Dental restorations are widely used in current dental care for replacing teeth that have been lost (e.g., to decay, cavities, gum disease, injury, etc.). Common examples of restorations include crowns for single tooth replacement, bridges to replace two or three teeth, and full or partial dentures for more extensive tooth replacement. In general, the restorations include several different components. The dental “implant” (also known as a fixture) is the component that is inserted into the jawbone mostly or completely below the gum line. An “abutment” is a connecting component that joins a visible component such as a crown, bridge or denture, to an implant. Abutments are generally made from titanium or other metals and may be either milled or cast. Abutment “analogs” (also known as replicas) can be identical in size and shape to part of particular abutments and are used in dental labs during fabrication of dental restorations. Some general information on the current state of the art in the field of dental restorations can be found at http://www.swdentalclinic.co.uk/documents/implantParts.pdf, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Dental implants can be loaded either immediately after the implant has been surgically placed in a patient's jawbone or after some time (e.g., three months) of healing. Immediate loading for a full arch (e.g., missing all teeth in a given jaw) or full mouth is a popular procedure that can be accomplished using a minimum of four implants per jaw.
The dental bridge, typically made of a resin such as an acrylic resin, is attached to the implants by an intermediary machined component called the abutment. A machined metal coping (usually made of titanium) is then connected to the abutment using a prosthetic screw. The acrylic bridge is then fused to the machined metal coping using a resin such as an acrylic resin in the dental office or in the dental laboratory. The excess resin is then trimmed and polished. This way the polished acrylic bridge has four machined metal copings incorporated into it. The bridge is then seated and screwed down on to the abutments to provide the patient with a fixed (e.g., permanent/non-removable) set of teeth.
An interest exists for improved dental analogs and related components, and related methods of use. These and other inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement are addressed and/or overcome by the assemblies, systems and methods of the present disclosure.